Timeline for Can « à deux pas de » ever be used for the meaning of « à deux doigts de »?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Mar 18, 2017 at 7:07 | vote | accept | Con-gras-tue-les-chiens | ||
| Mar 12, 2017 at 8:02 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackFrench/status/840835263739940864 | ||
| Mar 12, 2017 at 3:30 | comment | added | Luke Sawczak♦ | By "finding common ground" do you mean finding a calque? (Even though what we're saying is that the English doesn't really conform to the figurative "step" meaning either.) Au contraire, à mon avis, toute language possède en effet une variété d'expression suffisante (ou au moins satisfaisante) si les expressions littéralement traduites ne conviennent pas. Si, comme l'ont dit les autres, "à deux pas" ne peut probablement pas porter un sens figuratif, il ne faut pas en exiger un mais chercher une autre formulation : "sur le bord de", "au point de", "à la veille de", "au seuil de" pour commencer. | |
| Mar 12, 2017 at 2:08 | answer | added | Frank | timeline score: 1 | |
| Mar 11, 2017 at 19:30 | comment | added | Luke Sawczak♦ | Agreed with that. "One or two steps away from" something in the figurative sense seems to mean that you have specific stages to go through (perhaps even directives to intentionally follow). To add to your suggestions, one could consider "on the verge of", "on the edge of", "on the point of" | |
| Mar 11, 2017 at 16:47 | comment | added | Papa Poule | The following thought doesn’t answer (and is not meant to detract from) your good question, but English also has several expressions that capture better the notion of something being even closer/nearer than “within a step [or two]” and which, in my opinion, would be better suited for using figuratively/non-spatially with “doing/being something” than expressions using “step/s” (e.g., “within a hair’s breadth of”//”within a heartbeat of”//”within an inch of”). | |
| Mar 11, 2017 at 9:21 | answer | added | jlliagre | timeline score: 7 | |
| Mar 11, 2017 at 8:57 | history | edited | Con-gras-tue-les-chiens | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 11, 2017 at 8:50 | history | asked | Con-gras-tue-les-chiens | CC BY-SA 3.0 |